Frederick made his way underground quickly. He descended into a room with walls made entirely of strange metals that were as strong as Mid-Level Artefacts. The underground bunker was largely empty. For the only things in the room were a set of pitch black armor coupled with a slender sword and large screen that was embedded in a section of the wall. Before the screen was a comfortable looking chair and some wires.
Frederick glanced briefly at the armor and mumbled, "let us hope it doesn't come to that," before setting in the chair he had made for himself only a few weeks ago – which was also a Mid-Level Artefact. Once he was settled he collected the wires and connected them to a few ports on the chair to establish a connection with it. For this simple looking chair was the only thing that could link Frederick to the screen before him. It was the control centre for the screen and everything displayed on the screen was born from the 'brain' of the chair.
Frederick double checked to confirm that the wires were connected properly, before connecting two of the wires (there were three in total) to the screen before him. Once that was sorted he sighed and pulled back his long hair, revealing a tiny hole at the base of his temple. The hole was perfectly circular and deep, and it matched the port of the third wire Frederick held perfectly. Frederick gritted his teeth before plunging the wire into the hole in his head.
"Argh," Frederick grunted as he was sucked into a dizzying whirlpool, with several bits of information flooding his brain. This continued for about ten seconds, before the pain and dizziness faded away.
"Maybe I should have come up with a more innovative way to access the system panel than this," he complained to himself, rebuking himself for not doing better than this.
The Defense System Frederick created was a masterpiece. It was created with several high level materials and a few rare metals. And it was linked to him and him alone! The bunker and everything in it, the weapons that were hidden outside, and the Spy Drones that were positioned in the clouds were all part of this Defense system. They were all one! There was no one else who could use it for Frederick was bound to it by his blood. And even more fascinating was that Frederick could absorb all this into his storage ring because it was a Divine Artefact! Yes. Frederick had succeeded in creating a Divine Artefact after so long. He had been building this upon an inspiration he received in a dream right before they came to Systema. But the materials he needed were so rare that he wasn't able to start and finish at once. So it had been done gradually. Luckily, due to the fact that Systema didn't have any life, it was filled with many resources that were untouched. And Abe, Selina and Aegeus had been busy searching for these materials. So Frederick didn't even need to go out. He could just focus on completing his own crafting missions and grow as well.
"I broke through at the right time. If not, I wouldn't be able to handle the burden of using this thing," Frederick mumbled. It was indeed true. This weapon Frederick had created was highly complex and very draining. If he was any weaker than he was now, he wouldn't have been able to last past a minute due its high energy usage requirements. In fact even now, Frederick could only use it for ten minutes since his power wasn't not fully settled yet. When it was, he would probably be able to last past 15 minutes.
"Alright, let us get started," Frederick chuckled. For he was a little excited to finally put this into good use. Using his mind he commanded that the screen be turned on, and activated a few of the drones hidden in the sky by an elusive camouflaging technique. And everything outside the house was revealed to him.
"I'm settled in Abe," Frederick stated once he judged that everything was ready. And Abe's voice travelled to the room soon after, boring into Frederick's mind. "Good. We can rest easy knowing you are watching our backs."
Outside the house, Abe breathed out a silent sigh of relief when he heard Frederick's voice. He was a boy deemed to be more talented than the Supreme as a Scholar, and he hadn't disproved this fact. For he too had discovered many secrets, and he too was a Scholar King. With his abilities he could even hear Frederick who was in a soundproof bunker. For he had locked on to his friend.
"Frederick is locked in," Abe's voice travelled to Selina and Aegeus but his lips remained sealed. For he was a Telepath! Mane would be so annoyed with himself upon waking up. For the two people he knew who were Scholars of his age – Lily and Abe – were both Telepaths, yet he the Supreme – a person of unrivalled talent – was not!
Abe had seven skills as a Scholar: Lock-On, Trace, Telepathy (Inherent), Abolish, Slight, Sentinel, and Aceldama. Lock-On and Trace were the same skills Mane possessed so they needed no introduction. Telepathy also didn't require an explanation. But the last three skills certainly did.
Slight was a simple skill that clouded the senses of opponents for five seconds. The sense to be disturbed could be chosen by the user: sight, hearing, smell, taste, tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular senses. Each and every sense could be tampered with. The only downsides was that the number of opponents Abe could currently handle was three at most, and how long the dulling lasted for depended on the strength and number of opponents. On average, Slight could last for up to 12 seconds for one opponent, 5 seconds for two, and a fraction of a second for three.
Sentinel was a summoning skill, and it allowed Abe to summon a shadow from the shadow dimension, a dimension that had no light. This skill was a skill that relied on the User's luck, for the summoned creature was random. It could be a cat, a dog or even a dragon. However, Abe had a good chunk of luck. This was because he had a friend called Frederick who believed that Sentinel was useless if it couldn't be controlled and hence created a lucky charm that boosted Abe's chances of summoning a powerful creature by 90%! And so far, the charm hadn't failed.
Aceldama was a skill that was born from Abe's connection to the clan of Wyverns. As a Blood Wyvern's descendant, it was a little embarrassing that Abe didn't have a single blood related skill before – but not anymore. The Scholar manual Abe was using was able to tap into his bloodline and pull out a skill from the past. And the skill that had manifested was Aceldama. So in a sense, it was like a Glow. Or it could be seen as an inherent skill like Telepathy. For any other person using the same manual wouldn't get this skill unless they were a Blood Wyvern too.
Aceldama was currently Abe's most powerful skill, and the costliest – both in terms of the energy it consumed and the strain it put on Abe. And Abe preferred to not use it as much as possible.
"Does that mean I don't have to be silent any longer?" Selina gritted her teeth and asked in response to the knowledge that everything was ready. Her hand that held her spear gripped the handle of the weapon of kings so strongly that it began to creak. Aegeus who was next to her didn't have a pleasant expression on his face either. His eyes were flashing with several ominous lights. And his gaze was only focused on the two strange men in the distance.
"Yeah, you can run free," Abe nodded before taking a step forward himself.
Initially when the trio got out of the house, they were assaulted by the dirty mouths of the Breaker and Rage. Selina especially suffered the full brunt of their perverse nature. The way they looked at her disgusted her. And their audacity in discussing what they would do to her after killing Abe and Aegeus, caused her to almost blow her top. Aegeus wasn't pleased either with how they spoke of a woman he considered his brother's wife. The way they discussed her like she was some object of pleasure angered him greatly. And he couldn't help but think of the woman he loved and how she was doing. For he still hadn't forgotten about his betrothed. If it wasn't because of Abe who held them back, they would have struck.
"Oh they're coming," Rage licked his lips eagerly. "It seems they didn't take our call for surrender seriously. Such a pity." Breaker sighed pretentiously.
"Yeah right," Lina rolled her eyes at the duo. Which reasonable person would hear the words, "Bring us the lady with you, and we would allow you to kill yourselves," and heed such an order? For that was exactly what Rage and Breaker offered. And they even had the audacity to include a time limit.
"Let me alone deal with them," Rage stated. "No. I also want to see some blood stain my hammer," but Breaker refused. The two were just about to argue when Abe's figure disappeared, and the young man reappeared right in front of Rage.
"Don't slight us," Abe stated plainly as his sword travelled venomously towards Rage's neck. Rage was surprised by the sudden burst of speed, and even more taken aback by the quick strike. But his sharp reflexes as a Body wielder came into play and he instinctively brought his palm to his neck. And just in time too, for he was able to intercept the strike meant to kill him. He may be a Body Wielder but his neck certainly wasn't as strong as the other parts of his body.
*Bang*
Although he saved himself from a decapitation, Rage was sent flying by Abe's strike.
"You little!" Breaker was mad. For he wasn't expecting this. He let himself go, and the aura of a peak Noble flooded the place and shackled Abe briefly. For Abe was no trifling to be held in place by a Noble's aura for long. It required more than that. But that brief moment of immobility was all that was required in battles such as these. Breaker's figure appeared right behind Abe as he swung his giant hammer in a bid to reduce the young boy to a meat paste. But he had forgotten something: Abe was not alone.
There was one here who wanted the privilege of ripping off Breaker's head. And before Breaker's hammer could land on Abe, a powerful rod slammed into his ribs.
*Crack*
*Bang*
Breaker wasn't a body wielder, and even with his aura shield he wasn't able to stop the powerful rod. He was sent flying farther than Rage, and a few of his ribs were certainly broken. Breaker's broken figure crushed into the ground and rolled a few times before he flipped back up. Once he did he coughed up some blood. As for the disregard in his eyes, it was no longer there. He held onto his side with a painful expression on his face, and his eyes travelled to Rage who also happened to look at him at the same time. And both understood that they had grossly underestimated the kids! These weren't some lambs that they could easily slaughter. These were wolves! And boy were they strong!
Lina was as startled as Breaker and Rage at the strength Abe and Aegeus displayed. For the Dark God wasn't a man who did things in a half-baked manner. And because of this he had investigated the children before sending Breaker and Rage, having deemed them to be more than enough for the mission. They had information on Abe from the time he invaded the Eastern Empire with Mane. And they knew of Selina and Frederick. Aegeus they did not know, but they made estimates of his strength based on the strength of the others. Even the Dark God expected them to only be capable of reaching the peak of the Heaven Realm with Systema's help. But those kids clearly weren't at such a lowly level. They were much stronger!
"What are you thinking off?' a melodious voice travelled to Lina's ears, and she could feel her body grow cold. She turned to see a beautiful maiden in battle armor standing before her. And before she could say a word she felt the world spin as her head came off her shoulders.
"As a woman you should be ashamed of yourself for being with such a crowd." Selina uttered in disgust as she walked past the headless figure of the woman most beloved by the Dark God. Clearly, Selina was over the nausea she felt from seeing blood. As for Lina, she would forever feel aggrieved. For even in her death, Lina wasn't able to see how the spear had cut through her neck so cleanly. She didn't even see it being used!
"How dare you!" Breaker shouted in rage. However, his shout only aggravated his injury for he coughed up another mouthful of blood. Rage gritted his teeth in horror. For he, just like Breaker, knew just how much the Dark God fancied Lina. Now even if they finished the mission, there was no way they would be spared.
"Such a silly question. You come to kill us and expect us to present ourselves to you, but not defend ourselves? If you come to kill, you must be prepared to die as well!" Selina uttered powerfully before unleashing her aura. And the power of a 2nd Stage Noble declared its dominance.
Abe and Aegeus stood next to Selina with their power unhinged as well. Aegeus had no need to hide his strength as a peak 3rd Stage Noble, and Abe declared his position as leader of the group with his 4th stage Noble power.